March 8, 2012
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The Daily News1 Every now and again, this happens.
2 I got home last night exhausted from the demands of the week, made a little dinner, and then hit the hay rather early.
3 I awakened at around 11:30, and thought to myself, "Write today's DN now, so that you can get a good-night's sleep."
4 I began tacking away on the keyboard, and somewhere at around 12:45 I had finished this diatribe about teaching, and about elephants in the room, and of sealing wax, as well as other fancy things.
5 I pushed "Save" and the entire internet shut down. I had fifty items written, with all sorts of controversial things. I was a bit worried, because I was calling education out on its foolishness. It all disappeared in a wink. Darkness.
6 Frankly, I was almost afraid to publish it.
7 Turns out I had no say in the matter. I usually save as I go, but last night I was on a rant about a lot of stuff.
8 By the time I pushed "Save" everything blacked out.
9 For the record, I've had an almost eerie year of things electrical not working. If I listed them, you would be astounded. My classes have witnessed it, as have my vacay Tahoe peeps last summer when every electronic thing I had went kaput: my laptop, my camera, my frying pan, my car battery, my iPod dock, and on and on. That was all within two or three days.
10 In my classroom this year, it happened so many times that I can't even list it, but here are a couple of things: two printers, a television set, my electronic curtains, a CD player (Just two days ago! The thing wouldn't eject at a Grease rehearsal!), a DVD/VCR when I was being observed by district people two days ago as well, my car battery (again!) and I could go on and on, but I think you get the pic.
11 This was especially true during my annual ghost stories this year: everything went out in a ridiculously short period of time.
12 This year it was massively public, and quite eerie.
13 I realize that it is all coincidence, and that things electrical do go kaput every now and again, but the amount of things that have gone electrically haywire seem to have gone off the charts this year.
14 I KNOW, I KNOW.
15 Coincidence.
16 I guess.
17 I'm now in my third hour trying to get this folderol out. It is now well into the one a.m. I consider that early.
18 I must confess that I was a bit critical about the absurdity of things going on in education, and how we have gone from a teacher/student/parent focus to a demands-from-the top focus, much of which has a clear history of failure.
19 I also pointed out that awesome teachers bring awesome lessons, and often produce good students, resulting in a goodly amount of success.
20 I'll leave it at that, because negative data-oriented people will never buy that.
21 I will always buy that a teacher who cares, who smiles, who makes things comfortable for every student, and who reaches out to the ones who are struggling is probably doing a great job, despite "data" that really doesn't come close to accurately diagnosing the reason that some kids don't succeed.
22 I will steer away from a lot of what I said in my earlier piece that mysterously disappeared last night. I'm sort of glad that I didn't publish it, because I called out the absurdities, and refused to hold back. Instead, let's try this:
23 I will emphasize the elements of a good teacher, sans data.
24 A good teacher goes in prepared, but open to change each and every day. A good teacher knows every student as well as is possible. A good teacher knows the hobbies, interests, family and friends of the students. A good teacher listens. A good teacher cares so much that each day they go home and think of ways to improve. A good teacher stays in touch with former students. A good teacher welcomes parents' input, and understands their concerns. A good teacher falls down eight times and gets up nine.
25 A good teacher knows when to relax the shoulders and laugh.
26 A good teacher remains young at heart.
27 A good teacher cares about every single student, and knows that they all have good hearts.
28 It is not easy to be a good teacher. I still don't think I've reached that peak. It is Everest, without as much danger. It seems attainable, but often it is not.
29 Someday I would like to be regarded as a good teacher. I fight for my students every day, and still get lost in a blizzard of papers, of demands, of meetings, of emails, and of exhaustion. I guess we all do, every profession.
30 I guess I just go in and do my job the best I can, just like the next guy.
31 We are on the front lines in education. We are in the trenches, every single day.
32 People removed from us sometimes make absurd demands. We roll with it.
33 Anyway, I'm pretty glad in many ways that the internet flushed my first DN last night. It was a brutal diatribe about all of the absurdity and ridiculousness that gets thrown our way.
34 Pretty pointless.
35 I just wanted to make a plea to younger teachers to put as much love into their work as possible. Don't teach data, teach children. Stay young and full of hope. I still have hope, and I'm just an Old Brown Shoe.
36 But I still have a bit of polish. I see a few student teachers at our school who are smiling and on it every single day. I hope they stay that way. It is enchanting.
37 Welp, I'd love to stay and chat, but this is my second go-round on all of this. This one is a lot more positive, and for that, I thank the electrical/electronic angels who have taunted me all year.
38 Hope you guys had fun.
39 You probably kept me out of a ton of trouble.
40 So we'll see you again.
41 Have a grand Thursday.
42 Peace.
~H~
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